Life in prison given to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrives at a court in Seoul, South Korea. Photo / AP

In handcuffs, her eyes downcast, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday began a corruption trial that could send her to prison for life if she is convicted.

Police escorted Park as she emerged from a bus, her inmate number 503 attached to her dark-colored jacket, into the Seoul Central District Court. Her hands were then un-cuffed and she entered the courtroom and was seated before a three-judge panel while a throng of journalists captured images, often in extreme close up, of her somber face.

When Judge Kim Se-Yun asked Park, "What is your occupation?" she replied: "I don't have any occupation."

Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Photo / AP

Her longtime confidante, and the woman she is accused of conspiring with, Choi Soon-sil, sat near Park.

When addressed by a judge, Choi sobbed as she answered questions about her address and occupation.The two had been friends for four decades but did not acknowledge each other.

Prosecutors then read out the charges.

"The accused Park Guen-Hye, in collusion with her friend Choi Soon-Sil, let Choi, who had no official position, intervene in state affairs ... and they abused power and pressured business companies to offer bribes, thus taking private gains," said senior prosecutor Lee Won-Seok.

Once the most powerful person in the country, Park now faces judgment over charges that include extortion, bribery and leaking government secrets. The trial has captivated many; local TV channels repeatedly replayed the video of Park walking into the courtroom and sitting before the judges.

"I am here to witness a new chapter of history being unfurled," spectator Lee Jae-Bong, 70, told a pool reporter.

"I think Park must be punished thoroughly and never be pardoned so that such a bad thing may never happen again."

Tuesday's hearing marks Park's first public appearance since she was jailed in the early hours of March 31. Her arrest came weeks after she was removed from office in a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which upheld the December impeachment by lawmakers after massive street protests over the corruption allegations began last October.

Prosecutors boast of having "overflowing" evidence proving her involvement in criminal activities. They accuse Park, South Korea's first female president, of colluding with Choi to take about $26 million from the country's largest companies through bribery.

She also allegedly allowed her friend to manipulate state affairs from the shadows.

A spokesman from the presidential Blue House said the office has no official statement to make on Park's trial. New liberal President Moon Jae-in took office this month after winning a special election to replace Park.

The scandal has led to the indictments of dozens of people, including former Cabinet ministers, senior presidential aides and billionaire Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong, who is accused of bribing Park and her friend, Choi Soon-sil, in exchange for business favors.

Lee faces a separate trial.

Park has apologised for putting trust in Choi but denied breaking any laws and accuses her opponents of framing her. Choi also denies wrongdoing.

The judges are expected to decide whether to try Park and Choi together or to split their cases. Park's lawyers have alleged the combined hearings could create bias.

Park has spent the past weeks locked in a small cell with a television, toilet, sink, table and mattress.

She reportedly sees only a few visitors and her lawyers and mostly avoids television and newspapers. She avidly reads an English-Korean dictionary, according a report by a South Korean cable news channel, which cited an unnamed detention center source.

It is a stunning fall for a woman who won the 2012 presidential election over Moon by more than a million votes. She enjoyed overwhelming support from conservatives who recalled her dictator father lifting the nation from poverty in the 1960-70s; critics recall his severe human rights abuses.

As president, Park was criticised for what opponents saw as her imperial manner, her refusal to tolerate dissent, and her alleged mishandling of a 2014 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren.

The scandal involving Choi also destroyed Park's carefully-crafted image as a selfless daughter of South Korea and inspired an angry public to push for her ouster and then elect Seoul's first liberal government in a decade.

Opinion surveys show a majority of South Koreans back the prosecution of Park, but she still has staunch supporters, more than 100 of whom gathered Tuesday near the courtroom.

Experts see her trial as a painful but necessary step in the maturation of what's still a young democracy.

Every president elected after the country's transition toward democracy in the late 1980s faced scandals near the end of their terms. But Park was the first sitting president to be ousted through democratic procedures, reflecting a public that has become significantly less tolerant of corruption or abuse of governmental power.

Park's trial is expected to take several months.

The most damning allegation is that Park and Choi took $26 million in bribes from Samsung, the country's largest business group. Lee, Samsung's de facto chief, is under suspicion of using $39 million in corporate funds to sponsor companies, sports organizations and nonprofits controlled by Choi.

In exchange, Park ensured government backing for a contentious merger of two Samsung companies in 2015 that was a key step in passing corporate control to Lee from his ailing father, prosecutors say.

Under South Korean law, a bribery conviction involving more than 100 million won ($89,000) can lead to a prison term of more than 10 years or even life imprisonment.

However, legal experts say prosecutors must clearly prove that Park and Choi were connected economically as Samsung's alleged bribes went to Choi, not directly to Park.

Lee has denied using the payments to win support for the 2015 deal, saying Samsung was just responding to Park's requests to support culture and sports.

Park's trial will take place in a courtroom where former military strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a coup shortly after the 1979 assassination of Park's father, Park Chung-hee, received a death sentence in 1996.

It was later reduced to life in prison before he was freed by a presidential pardon.Moon said during his campaign he won't pardon Park or Samsung's Lee.